Jean Anne Pugh of Four Seasons Books in Shepardstown, West Virginia, just loves the title of Elena Ferrante’s novel, “The Lying Life of Adults.” Like Ferrante’s famed Neapolitan novels, this one is set in Naples and translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein.Pugh calls the novel an excellent portrait of a teenager “in conflict with her culture and her family.” The story is set in ‘90s Naples, a city divided into a seemingly refined upper crust society and its lower quarters, where mysterious Aunt Vittoria lives.A Netflix version of the novel, filmed in Naples, is current in production.

Part of the fun of the Ask a Bookseller series is getting the local scoop from bookstores across the country. Heather Gudenkauf is both a New York Times Bestselling Novelist and a local favorite at the River Lights Bookstore in Dubuque, Iowa. Gudenkauf worked for years in the Dubuque school system. River Lights bookseller Angela Kircher heartily recommends Gudenkauf’s newest thriller/mystery, “The Overnight Guest.” Part of the intrigue in this fast-paced novel comes from the way it deftly weaves together three narratives in different timelines. One timeline takes place in the dead of winter, in an isolated farmhouse when a crime writer brings in a small child she finds out in a snowstorm. The other timeline is in the heart of summer, where two teenage girls sneak out to the Iowa State Fair and “all heck breaks loose,” says Kircher. “There are gunshots, they're running through the cornfield, [they’re] not sure who's alive and who's not alive.”Kircher says the reader doesn’t always knew who everybody is in these timelines, which adds to the suspense as the story reveals what happened on that fateful night in summer, who was involved, and how everyone is connected.

Jennifer Jubenville of the Bookstore at Fitger’s in Duluth says there’s nothing like a good thriller for a summer read, and she recommends checking out Joshua Moehling’s debut, “And There He Kept Her.”There are familiar elements to this thriller: A small (fictional) Minnesota town. A sheriff’s deputy who has left police work in Minneapolis due to personal tragedy, seeking a quieter life — only to find himself investigating a terrible crime at his new job. Two teens have gone missing after they attempted to steal painkillers from an old man whom they presumed to be harmless. But the old man has secrets of his own, and now the deputy suspects the man is holding the teens captive. The race is on to save their lives.Jubenville says this suspenseful tale navigates LGBTQ issues and the opioid crisis along with neighbors in a small town. She says she couldn’t put it down. The Bookstore at Fitger’s is hosting Moehling for an author signing event from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday. 

Brooklyn Lindsey of Crash Books in Lakeland, Florida calls “This is How You Lose the Time War” a time-traveling love letter. The novel by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone follows a series of letters exchanged between Red and Blue, who are on opposite sides of a massive time war. Part of what makes this star-crossed-lovers novel interesting, Brooklyn says, is that the authors take care not to place gender to these two characters. The two go to creative and appropriately sci-fi lengths to keep their correspondence secret. If discovered, their bond could spell their deaths. Or, it could change everything.“It’s probably one of the most interesting works of fiction I’ve read in a long time, and it’s beautifully written,” Lindsey said. The novel is studded with pop culture Easter eggs that made her want to go back for a second read.

Jenny Chou of Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee, Wis., recommends the new YA novel “See You Yesterday” by Rachel Lynn Solomon, which came out May 17.Barrett Bloom is a freshman in college having a terrible day. She shows up at her Physics 101 class only to be put on the spot in front of everyone for no reason by her unbearably annoying classmate, Miles. She’s never even seen him before! Or has she? Barrett soon figures out that she and Miles are both stuck in a time loop, endlessly repeating Wednesday, Sept. 21st.“What ensues is hilarious,” Chou says, “and [it] very nearly broke my heart. Writing a book set almost entirely in one day is challenging, but Solomon's creativity makes for a real page turner.”Yes, Chou says, she instantly thought of “Groundhog’s Day,” the classic 1993 film that has forever stamped its name on day-repeating plot lines; though Chou hastened to add that this YA romance has an excellent and surprising plot twist.Love getting stuck in time? Check out this past recommendation on Ask a Bookseller.

Mika Tuzon of Scrawl Books in Reston, Virginia recommends the novel “Brown Girls” by Daphne Palasi Andreades. Tuzon says two aspects of this debut novel made it stand out as unique. First was the form: it's told in a series of vignettes and written in the first-person plural, which means the women in this novel speak together as "we," like a modern chorus. Second, all of the narrators are women of color. They start as children growing up on the same street in Queens, NY., and we follow them through their lives.We see the ones who leave for college—and have their loyalties challenged for leaving—and the ones who stay or returned. Tuzon hastened to add that this book feels relatable even if you don’t live in Queens, and said she was thinking about this novel long after she closed the book. 

Alden Graves of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt., recommends "Vigil Harbor," a new novel by National Book Award winner Julia Glass.The environment and climate change are key elements of this novel set in the near-future. Vigil Harbor is a former working-class fishing village on the Massachusetts coast that has been "transformed by the magic wand of prosperity into an upscale haven for the affluent," says Graves. "It's the kind of place many people wish they could call home — and might also stand as an example of being careful what you wish for." High-profile divorces, strangers who arrive in town, and a series of eco-terrorism bombings across New England all rock this quiet community, building to what Graves calls an "energetic finale."

Saturday, April 30, was National Independent Bookstore Day. Many bookstores across the state and the country offered events or specials in-person or online. Katy Herbold of Sidekick Coffee & Books in Iowa City, Iowa, took a few moments out of her bookstore's preparations for the special day to recommend the novel “The Ogress and the Orphans” by Minneapolis writer Kelly Barnhill. Herbold called the middle-grade novel "a family read-aloud" that she predicts will be an instant classic. That holds true in her family, where a family reading of the novel held the interest of her children — ages 6, 10 and 14."And I love it so much because the characters have unlikely traits. It's very unexpected, and it will leave you just filled with hope. It's a story of hope and love," says Herbold.As with Barnhill's 2017 Newbery Medal-winning novel "The Girl Who Drank the Moon," kindness and villainy come from unexpected corners in this novel. The Ogress of the title is loving and giving, offering food to orphans without needing acknowledgement for her actions. The story takes place in a town that has rather mysteriously come to ruin. When an orphan goes missing from the orphanage, blame quickly falls upon the Ogress. It's up to the orphans — each of whom shines with "incredible, fantastic character names" and traits, Herbold says — to help the townspeople see the truth and find the real villain.Barnhill also has a novel for adults coming out May 3, entitled, "When Women Were Dragons."

How do you make sure the person you met through a matchmaking app is who they say they are? In Jane Pek's novel "The Verifiers," you'd hire an amateur detective like protagonist Claudia Lin to do a little digging. Pek's novel is this week's book recommendation from Angela Schwesnedl of Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis. Lin's family doesn't know what she does for work. They don't know she's queer, either, and Schwesnedl says those evasions lead to some close calls as she bikes across New York City to meet work and family requirements. As for what that work entails, Schwesnedl says there's a classic set-up: a beautiful young woman walks into the agency asking for help — and then goes missing. Part detective story, part family story, "The Verifiers" got Schwesnedl thinking about how we really know when the person we're talking to online tells the truth, and what kind of data are those dating apps getting from us.

Emily Crowe of "An Unlikely Story" in Plainville, Massachusetts was excited to recommend the novel "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus. The novel by the debut author in her 60s launched this week to great fanfare. Apple TV+ has already optioned the rights to turn the book into a TV series that will star Brie Larson."If you can imagine Julia Child channeling a little bit of Lucille Ball, and all of the science edginess of Madame Curie, then you'll have a really good idea of the humor and the wit and the warmth that just shine through this entire novel," says Crowe.The novel follows Elizabeth Zott, a 1960s chemist turned cook-show host. Elizabeth is brilliant, unconventional, and determined to succeed — attributes she needs working in a laboratory where she has to fight her male colleagues for access to proper lab equipment. When she encounters Calvin Evans, their passion for science and each other is "incandescent," says Crowe. The narrative navigates back and forth between two timelines, so it's not a spoiler to say that several years later, Zott finds herself alone with a child, cast out of her university job. A chance encounter leads to a new career hosting a cooking show. Over recipes for casserole, Elizabeth finds a way to teach science to the housewives of America."She subverts the act of making dinner, giving those housewives a sense of their own value, and intelligence and accomplishment," says Crowe, who calls the novel "a deeply satisfying read."

If you like the energy and ambition of the musical "Hamilton," Lelia Nebeker of One More Page Books in Arlington, Va., recommends you check out the novel “Island Queen” by Vanessa Riley.The novel is based on the life of entrepreneur Dorothy Kerwin Thomas (1756 – 1846), who was born into slavery in Montserrat and who rose to become a wealthy, powerful landowner in the West Indies. Written in Thomas's voice, the novel spans decades of her long life.Nebeker found herself drawn into both the romantic and the business relationships of this complex character, whose drive, love for her children, and success in business created a powerful legacy that spanned multiple countries.

Sometimes setting a novel in a different time or place gives an author permission to reflect our contemporary world in a new way. That’s the case for journalist-turned-author Omar El Akkad’s first novel “American War.” Published in 2017, the novel is a go-to recommendation for Claire Margetts of Weller Book Works in Salt Lake City, Utah, even though — or perhaps because — it made her sob at the end. Set in 2074, it tells the story of the Second American Civil War. Climate change has flooded half of Louisiana and led to an American ban on fossil fuels. The American South has seceded in protest. The story follows Sarat Chestnut of Louisiana, who grows up in a camp for displaced persons and becomes embroiled in the war. “It's a book that stays with you. It's astounding; it's sublime,” says Margetts. She says she couldn’t stop thinking about this novel throughout the past few years as its tales of plague, civil unrest and war seemed to unfold before her eyes. The characters are powerful, she says, and there are beautiful moments along with the darkness. El Akkad has since published a second novel, “What Strange Paradise,” in the summer of 2021.

We're continuing our Women's History Month theme on "Ask a Bookseller." This week, Jessica Bohnsack of Sheridan Stationery Books and Gallery in Sheridan, Wyo., was happy to recommend a historical fiction novel set in her state: "One for the Blackbird and One for the Crow" by Olivia Hawker.Conditions are harsh on the plains of Wyoming in 1876, and the Bemis and Webber families couldn't be more isolated — 20 miles from town, and a mile apart from each other. Right off the bat, the stuff of soap operas happens. Mr. Bemis catches his wife in a compromising situation with Mr. Webber and kills him. Bemis then turns himself in and goes to jail. What's interesting is what happens next, for now the women and their adolescent children are left behind to run the farm, and winter is approaching. Despite anger and regret, they must rely on each other to survive.Bohnsack says she felt all the feelings in this novel as the narrative shifted seamlessly among the points of view of the various main characters.

Have you ever had a book call to you from the shelf? Emily Peterson of Page 42 Bookstore in Spokane, Wash., says she kept being drawn to the novel "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek," noticing the cover, reading the back until she finally took it home to read.Then, she could hardly put it down.The historical fiction novel by Kim Michele Richardson is set during the Great Depression in rural Kentucky, when packhorse librarians traveled long distances on mules to carry books to Appalachian families. In Troublesome Creek, that traveling librarian is Cussy May Carter, who was born with blue skin.Her fictional character is based on a real family in the area, the Fugates, whose blue-tinged skin was due to a recessive gene. Carter's presence in town stirs up prejudice and superstition.Peterson recommends this "heart-filled" story of courage and the enduring power of books.

Sarah Brown of Zenith Bookstore in Duluth has a revisionist history to recommend. "Civilizations: a Novel," by Laurent Binet, asks: What if colonizers had traveled to Europe rather than the other way around?Binet, who is French, creates a novel in which the Inca emperor Atahualpa crosses the Atlantic to Portugal in the early 1500s. In Europe, he finds a downtrodden peasant class, plague, power battles among kings and popes — in other words, a world that's ripe for change. The Inca and the Aztec becomes the rulers of Europe, introducing changes to farming and religion, and becoming enmeshed in political intrigue.Brown said the novel reads as a scribe laying out this revisionist history, often with a wink and a nod that pull the reader in. Wide-ranging in scope and humorous, the novel doesn't say "any civilization is better than another," says Brown. "Just 'what if?'"

If you’re a history lover with a desire to escape the Minnesota winter weather, Pat Banning of Bookends in Kailua, Hawaii, has a recommendation for you. Banning says "Unfamiliar Fishes" by Sarah Vowell "blew her out of the water" with its carefully researched and highly readable Hawaiian history.The title comes from a quote by a Hawaiian scholar describing unfamiliar fishes blown from the deep who devour the little ones they find. This is a warts-and-all history of Hawaii's Americanization, told in a nonlinear fashion and interspersed with contemporary diary entries as well as Vowell's experience."I was prepared to scoff at the beginning," said Banning, whose store is located on Oahu. She was skeptical of books by "people that sweep in here and write history of a way after they've been here for three or four weeks. But she's fantastic. She tells you all kinds of things that you have totally never heard of."

Jason Reynolds is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and Donna Garban of Little City Books in Hoboken, N.J., says she knows to order multiple copies every time he puts out a new book. Garban said Reynolds’ most recent title is particularly eye-catching. “Ain’t Burned All the Bright” is only a few sentences long and includes over 300 illustrations. It’s a partnership between Reynolds and longtime friend and illustrator Jason Griffith.The text is a narrative poem by Reynolds that captures the experience of one Black family during 2020. The story spans the awful — the pandemic, the murder of George Floyd and its aftermath, and job loss — and the good, as lockdowns led to increased family time. Oxygen is a fitting theme of the novel, and each section is divided into breaths.The book is for ages 12 and up. Garban said both she and her teenage son tore through the book in a sitting and immediately wanted to pass it on to others.

Kathy Gray is the primary bookbuyer for Lark Toys in Kellogg, Minn., and she recommends a picture book by a Midwest artist who walked into her store one day. Laurel Fraher of Menomonie, Wis., is the author and illustrator of "See Me in the Wonder," and its backstory immediately drew Gray in. Fraher and her husband had a daughter who passed away at age 3. Fraher wrote "See Me in the Wonder" to help their other children feel connected to their older sister, whom they had never met. Her website describes the work as "a love poem," and she illustrated its simple text with watercolors depicting the natural world. Fraher and her husband co-published the book. Gray says they not only carry the book in their store but have personally gifted it to others who are experiencing loss. She loves the final lines, which read,"There's wonder waitingIn each moment.Find it and you'll see...When you embraceThis precious life,You'll be embracing me."

Jake Reiss of The Alabama Booksmith near Birmingham, Ala., is looking forward to the publication of a nonfiction book on Jan. 25 that he says is sure to spark conversation. The new book by journalist Ben Raines describes its scope in the title: "The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning."In 1859 or 1860, 50 years after the Atlantic slave trade was made illegal, a wealthy Alabama plantation owner funded passage of the Clotilda, the last known ship to transport captured West African men and women to the state, where they were sold into slavery. After the Civil War, some of those survivors founded what is now Africatown, near Mobile. The Clotilda, meanwhile, was set alight, but most of the vessel remained intact and buried along the Mobile River in Alabama. In 2019, the wreckage was confirmed to be the Clotilda. The book tracks the story of that ship and the descendants of the people it carried. Raines' narrative carries the reader from Alabama to Benin in West Africa and back, exploring the ongoing legacy of one slave ship to reach America's shores. Related links December 2021 Researchers say the wreckage of last known slave ship to the U.S. is mostly intact

Isaac Frankel of Peregrine Book Company in Prescott, Ariz., has fond memories of picking his father's copy of Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel "Dune" off the shelf and reading it for the first time. Now, he says he's seen a huge interest in the “Dune” series since the new film version came out this fall.Frank Herbert wrote “Dune” in 1965 and went on to publish five more books in the series. Frank’s son, Brian Herbert, along with Kevin J. Anderson, later went on to write multiple additional prequels, sequels and companions.Frankel wants fans of the film to know that the books go even deeper into creating a complete and elaborate new world. “Dune” is a hero’s journey about a boy living 20,000 years in the future. Paul Atreides’ world changes dramatically when his family moves from a water planet to accept stewardship over a desert planet, home to invaluable spice and dangerous sandworms.Along with the adventure, "Dune" delves into philosophy, politics, religion, environmental manipulation and other factors that play out over the course of human history. Frankel calls the first four “Dune” books “essential,” adding that the fifth and six book in the series set up a new story line that Frank Herbert did not finish before he died. Cube Critics reviews The movie, 'Dune'

Freya Shrestha of Old Harbor Books in Sitka, Alaska, can’t forget a novel called “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.”  The book by V. E. Schwab is set in modern-day New York, but protagonist Addie LaRue is originally from 1700s’ France. In a moment of desperation, she inadvertently prays to and makes a deal with the devil, and he gives her freedom and immortality in exchange for her soul. But the one caveat that she is unaware of until after she makes the deal is that to obtain her freedom, everyone she interacts with will forget her as soon as she's out of their sight. So if a door closes between her and another person, they'll immediately forget her. She also can't leave any kind of a mark, so she can't write, she can't draw, and her image cannot be captured by photograph. She is reduced essentially to having an invisible life, but with it, she has incredible freedom. Over the 300 years since she's made the deal, no one has been able to remember her. Until one day, when she meets someone who can.“I honestly couldn't get enough of the book,” says Shrestha. “I found myself torn between the urge to keep reading because it was so good and wanting to slow down and savor it.”The plot jumps back and forth between modern day and flashbacks of Addie’s experiences and adventures, spanning across time in different countries and of her encounters with the devil, who initially was the only one who could remember her. Shrestha loves the complex and multi-faceted characters, and the shifting dynamic between them keeps the plot twisting. The book also poses an interesting philosophical question about worth and the value of leaving a mark on the world.  From NPR 'Addie LaRue' is invisible — but memorable

Usually every week for Ask a Bookseller, I check in with indie booksellers all over the country for recommendations. But this week, we’re changing it up with an Ask a Student edition, courtesy of some of the readers at Gatewood Elementary School in Minnetonka, Minn.The students I talked to ranged from kindergarten to sixth grade. They were all students of English language learning teachers Becky Hart and Aliza Mashadi, and the kids stepped away from their bustling school day for a few minutes to recommend books they loved. Everyone had a series to recommend that either connected with their lives or led them on new adventures.Ten-year-old Ayan Mahamud loves the graphic novel “Click” by Kayla Miller, about a girl who gets left out of all the acts for the upcoming talent show. After watching old variety shows at her aunt’s house, she gets inspired to create her own role, as the show’s emcee. Ayan is in band and is looking forward to attending band concerts through school, so she connected with this book on a personal level. “Click” has several companion books as well.Asiya Dakol, 11, loves the sci-fi “Sal and Gabi” books by Carlos Hernandez. Together, the two friends break, then fix, the universe — so naturally, she recommends reading both. Ten-year-old Daisy Zamorano Romero enjoys the funny adventures and drawings in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series by Jeff Kinney. Nine-year-old Jason Chomphel turns to the action-packed adventures of “Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot” by Dav Pilkey. Awo Mahamud, 12, says “The Series of Unfortunate Events” books by Lemony Snicket keep her guessing what’s going to happen next. Orphaned siblings Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire face continued, well, unfortunate turns of events as the dreaded Count Olaf maneuvers to steal their fortune. (And it’s funny, too.)For 6-year-old Rosie Zamorano Romero, there isn’t a specific series she likes, but one single subject: puppies. 

Emil Ferris's graphic novel "My Favorite Thing is Monsters" made a splash when came out in 2017, and it's still Richard Johnston's favorite title to recommend."I'm always amazed when people don't know it because I love it so much," says Johnston, who runs Brookings Book Company in Brookings, S.D. The second in the two-part series is now also available.It's the story of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, set in a racially charged 1960s' Chicago. Karen is bright and artistic, but she sees herself as a social outcast and a monster among her school peers. She fills her notebooks with drawings of monsters from magazines and horror movies. Her older brother, a womanizing artist, encourages her love of art. Early in the novel, Karen's neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, and Karen sets out to solve the murder. The journey leads her on a path of self-discovery where she suspects her neighbors and even her mother and brother of committing the crime.Johnston says Ferris' art style is “a stunning mix of realism and cartoon, all presented on lined notebook paper to replicate the appearance of Karen's school notebooks. The story and images flow freely across the page, [exploring] what it means to be a monster both good and bad, and what monsters live in our art in our actual world.”  From NPR 'My Favorite Thing Is Monsters' is a dazzling, graphic novel Tour-De-Force

"I always recommend this book as — if you are from or are aware of dysfunctional families, you will connect with this book."That's the recommendation of Bob Lingle of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore in Lakewood, N.Y., speaking of the novel "Tiny Americans" by Devin Murphy. Set in western New York where Lingle's store is located, the novel starts in 1978 and follows a family of five over the next 40 years. Each chapter is a year, told by or about one member of the family as they grow, move away, disconnect and reconnect. Murphy's background is in short story-telling, says Lingle."It's really like you're checking in with the family with each chapter, like 'Where is Connor now? What's Terrence up to?' " Murphy said. "So it's very much a series of 40 short stories that all tie in together."

Stef Schmidt of Water Street Books in Exeter, N.H., recommends a novel whose title is sure to draw some curious attention on the shelves. It's called “I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness,” by Claire Vaye Watkins. The unnamed narrator, armed with little more than her purse and a breast pump, leaves her husband and newborn daughter for a speaking engagement in Reno. Once there, she decides not to go home. What follows, Schmidt says, is a wild journey through the Mojave Desert where the narrator grew up. As she questions her decisions and her domesticated life, her story ties in with her parents' stories, their choice to live off the grid, and her father's previous involvement with Charles Manson's cult."The writing is wonderful," says Schmidt. "The voice is is so electric and you love her and you're also like, 'What are you doing with your life?' I couldn't put it down."

Leading up to Halloween, Jordyn Stocks of Piragis Northwoods Company in Ely, Minn., recommended the mystery novel “The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” by Stuart Turton. Yes, there’s a party gathered at the crumbling Blackheath Manor that results in a murder, but what’s unique about this who-done-it is its “Groundhog’s Day”—like premise. When Aiden Bishop first wakes up in the middle of the woods, he doesn’t know what he’s doing there nor who he is. As he proceeds to wake up each day in the body of a different guest at the manor, and it becomes apparent that the only way for him to break the cycle is to put all these perspectives together and solve the mystery of Evelyn Hardcastle’s death. Stocks describes the novel as part mystery, part fantasy, part crime novel with historical elements thrown in. She says that, at first, the scenario was confusing, but as the book continued and the story grew increasingly complex, she found she couldn’t put it down. 

Lauren Abesames of Wind City Books in Casper, Wyo., loves young adult fiction, and first on her list of recent books to recommend was “The Ones We’re Meant to Find” by Joan He. It’s set in a dystopic reality where climate change has taken a drastic toll on Earth, resulting in a split in the world population: 25 percent live in floating cities, spending much of their lives in virtual reality to reduce their carbon footprints. The other 75 percent live back on the ground, amidst the elements. The story is told by two sisters who are separated. Cee wakes up marooned on an island with no memory of who she is, other than a need to return to her sister. Back in her floating city, sister Kasey must fit together the pieces of her sister’s disappearance. “There is a very, very good plot twist that I think readers will really enjoy,” says Abesames. Without revealing any spoilers, she says she appreciates the novel’s message about the consequences of our actions and the ways those actions trickle through the generations.

This week’s recommendation for kid readers has a “Secret Life of Pets” vibe, and it comes from Angela Whited of Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul. Whited recommends the novel “The Great Ghost Hoax” by Emily Ecton, with spot illustrations by David Mottram. It came out Sept. 7. Butterbean the dachshund and her housemates, Oscar the mynah bird, Walt the cat, and Marco and Polo the rats are looking for their next adventure, having previously pulled off an amazing apartment heist (more on that in a minute). So, when first a human neighbor, then a rat neighbor, burst into their living room with news of a haunted apartment upstairs, they are ready to take the case.There are challenges, of course: The pets have to work their investigation around some professional ghost hunters who show up. Also, it’s up to Butterbean, as the one pet who gets taken out for walks, to remember the details of leaving the apartment. Butterbean is a good dog, but she’s not all that smart, and not all that key information gets remembered. Author Ecton is a former writer and producer on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me,” and Whited says the jokes are hilarious. She says the story is written at a fourth grade level, but “there's nothing in it that makes it too scary or too edgy or to anything to read to a younger reader” who is reading or listening along. “The Great Ghost Hoax” is the sequel to “The Great Pet Heist.” That novel came out in 2020, but Whited says it has been largely on back-order, so this fall is a great chance to pick up both books at once. 

All September, Ask a Bookseller will be featuring recommendations for kids and teens. First up: Harriett Logan of Loganberry Books in Cleveland, Ohio, recommended the picture book “I Talk Like a River,” with an inventive metaphor that reframes stuttering.It’s written by poet Jordan Scott, based on his own experience, and illustrated by Sydney Smith. The story follows a boy through a frustrating day of school where his stutter gets in the way of all the things he wants to say. After school, his father brings him to his favorite place — the river — and asks him to watch how the current ripples and eddies and rushes.“You talk like a river,” his father tells him. This beautiful metaphor becomes a point of calm and pride for the boy. The pictures match the mood, transitioning from brown hues to big swirling blues at the riverside, Logan says.

Autumn Siders of The Country Bookseller in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, recommends a re-telling of Ovid’s collection of ancient myths “Metamorphoses,” told by the tales’ female characters. It’s entitled “Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung,” by Nina MacLaughlin. The stories come in snippets, vignettes and therapy sessions, re-set in contemporary environments — in one, Hades is a bar — to breathe fresh perspective into these classic myths. “It's really raw and edgy and very, very well done,” says Siders. MacLaughlin “really knows the tales inside and out.”

Katharine Otis of House of Books in Kent, Conn., recommends the comical memoir-in-essays “Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons” by John Paul Brammer. The book grew out of an advice column Brammer wrote for the LGBTQ dating app Grindr; he quickly found that the questions he received from readers were deep and wide-ranging. Brammer also describes growing up as a self-described queer, multiracial kid in Oklahoma. Otis has long followed Brammer on Twitter, so she knew he was "a very funny man," but she was surprised by the thoughtful dives the book takes into mental health, queer issues, and racial identity. She recommends this book for fans of short, humorous essays such as Samantha Urby’s "Wow, No Thank You" and "We Are Never Meeting in Real Life." It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders John Paul Brammer gives advice

Linda Crowder of Russell Specialty Books and Gifts in Russell, Kan., recommends the kids’ chapter book “Skunk and Badger,” written by Amy Timberlake and illustrated by Jon Klassen.Skunk and Badger are the unlikeliest of friends and roommates: Badger loves to stay at home with his books and gemstones. Skunk is much more adventurous, and he pulls Badger into a new world of adventure in the forest."This book will be a classic someday," predicts Crowder. She likes the characters and the illustrations, but she's particularly enthused that Skunk and Badger's adventures resonate with boys, who she says tend to pick graphic novels over chapter books, like this one. "I've tried ["Skunk and Badger"] out on many of my customers. The girls love it, but the boys just go crazy for it," she said.She recommends the book for readers age 8 and up. The second book in the series, "Egg Marks the Spot" is due out in September.

Jolie Hughes of Morgan Hill Bookstore in New London, N.H. has a recommendation for people who want a summer read that leaves them feeling good. She points them toward TJ Klune's novel "The House in the Cerulean Sea."Protagonist Linus Baker lives in a gray, rainy city, where he duly files his reports at his job overseeing the welfare of magical children. The only color in his life are the sunflowers around his little house and the mousepad on his desk with a beach picture that says, "Don't you wish you were here?" ("Yes, yes he does," is the book's refrain on the subject.)Linus is assigned by Extremely Upper Management to inspect a home for magical children whose abilities have been deemed to be particularly dangerous — one of them is a child of the devil, with an appropriately diabolical sense of humor. With his trusty book of rules and regulations in hand, Linus boards the train — and arrives, for the first time, at the sea. He finds a world full of color, with inventively magical but loveable characters who quickly fill his life with joy and some trepidation, as such attachments fly in the face of professional, distanced observation. The writing style is witty and charming, as is the gentle love story woven into the book.

Hal Hlavinka of Community Bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y., says he's been telling everyone about a new novel by Joshua Cohen, out Tuesday: "The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family."In 1959, at a small New York college, history professor Ruben Blum reluctantly hosts visiting lecturer Benzion Netanyahu. He arrives with his entire family, including a young Benjamin Netanyahu, who until recently was prime minister of Israel. Rather than reveal any of the surprises in the plot, Hlavinka simply says that "many shenanigans ensue."The story is modeled from one that scholar Harold Bloom told the author, and was expanded through the powers of fiction. Part campus novel, part lecture, full farce, the story is also deeply engaged with the history of Judaism and midcentury politics. Hlavinka called Cohen's writing "complicated and interesting," adding that this novel, which weighs in near 250 pages in paperback, is an excellent entry point into Cohen's larger body of work.

Lauren Nopenz Fairley has seen a surging interest in romance novels during the pandemic at her bookstore, The Curious Iguana, in Frederick, Md. She said her whole staff fell in love with the queer romance novel, “Honey Girl,” by debut author Morgan Rogers.In the book, 28-year-old Grace Porter has just finished her Ph.D. in astronomy. She's from a conservative, military family. And so it's very unlike her to go to Las Vegas and get drunkenly married to a complete stranger. Grace decides to step away from her stressful life and join her new wife, Yuki Yamamoto, in New York City for the summer.Nopenz Fairley called it a charming story, complete with an entertaining cast of characters in Yuki’s roommates. As Grace falls for Yuki, they settle into a pleasant routine; but reality comes hurtling back, as Grace must decide what to do with her future. Nopenz Fairley calls “Honey Girl” a millennial novel about accepting the love you deserve, celebrating “found families,” and defining relationships beyond the romantic.The book came out in February 2021 and went straight to paperback, making it an easy book to bring to the beach this summer.

Bookseller Dan Carlisle was intrigued the moment he unpacked the box containing new copies of Adam Levin's novel "Bubblegum." The cover was colored and, more strikingly, scented like bubblegum. The bookseller from Taylor Books in Charleston, West Virginia dove in. "I would describe it as a wonderous slog," said Carlisle of the nearly 800-page book, filled with humor and clever wordsmithing. (The paperback, out now, is not scented.)The novel is set in a version of the present day in which the internet does not exist. Instead, clever inventors in the 1980s and 90s created Botimals: tiny, adorable robots made of flesh and bone. They became an enduring, world-wide craze. The novel follows 38-year-old Belt Magnet, who as a child was an early recipient of the new technology when they were being piloted as an alternative to therapy animals. The complex novel explores everything from viral ideas to violence as it wends its way. Though this alternative technology is the unique jumping-off point for this novel, "it's not so much the Botimals that are the problem; it's the humans," says Carlisle.

Stephanie Hochschild of The Book Stall in Winnetka, Illinois, knows the book that she is recommending sounds quiet and simple, but that doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. Far from it. The novel is “Leonard and Hungry Paul” by debut Irish author and musician Rónán Heston, and it recently came out in paperback. Leonard and Hungry Paul are friends; they’re both single, in their 30s, and still live at home. Leonard is mourning the loss of his mother. He writes children's encyclopedias, and he’s held onto a sense of youthful wonder about the world. Hungry Paul — we don’t really ever learn how he earned that name — is content to live happily with his parents and doesn't see anything wrong with that (though his sister does.) He lives in the present and takes pleasure in whatever is around him. “So this sounds like not much,” Hochschild says “but it is charming and warm, and generous and funny. It's not a book for people who are looking for action or adventure or exotic lands. It’s a book that celebrates the beauty of the everyday, the poetry and family and friends and just playing Scrabble over dinner.” She also appreciated the clever turns of phrase in the writing, which nabbed her with this first sentence: “Leonard was raised by his mother alone with cheerfully concealed difficulty, his father having died tragically during childbirth.”  How could you not be curious to keep reading? 

Lia Lent of WordsWorth Books in Little Rock, Ark., recommended “The Ghost Variations,” a flash fiction collection by Kevin Brockmeier.All the stories involve ghosts in some way, but they range from scary to funny, charming to thought-provoking. And they’re short: Many of the stories unfold in 500 words, which Lent says makes this book easy to pick up for a quick story — and hard to put down. It’s full of fascinating first-lines and clever wording that kept her reading just one more, over and over.Here’s one opening she shared from story No. 35 "New Life, New Civilizations:" By the 24th Century, the question had been answered definitively: transporters did not in fact convey a person, bodily, from one place to another. They killed him and replaced him with an exact duplicate. The new question was whether the copy, like the original, was endowed with a soul.Lent said she couldn’t resist continuing after an opening paragraph like that, particularly when the story resolves in a page and a half. Lent also recommends a previous novel by Brockmeier, “The Brief History of the Dead,” which also has ghosts. Published in 2006, it’s about the aftermath of a pandemic. 

This week’s Ask a Bookseller pick is a historical novel set during World War II in Nazi-occupied Norway. The novel is “White Shadow” by Roy Jacobsen, translated from Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw and recommended by Lesley Rains of City of Asylum Bookstore in Pittsburgh. Ingrid lives alone on an island in Norway, and the story follows the consequences of her decision to shelter a wounded soldier who washes up on her shore following a shipwreck. She doesn’t know which country he’s from when she finds and begins to care for him. The mystery of his identity unfolds during the novel, as do its consequences: Ingrid is taken from her beloved island and must struggle to journey back home. Jacobsen’s spare and unsentimental prose tells a story that’s dramatic without being melodramatic, says Rains. “It’s atmospheric and totally gripping. It’s a real page-turner … about love and what we endure, and how we make a home.” “White Shadow” is the second novel in Jacobsen’s Ingrid trilogy, although Rains says you don’t have to have read the first book (“The Unseen”) to engage with this one.

This week, Ask a Bookseller called closer to home, with a recommendation from Charlie Aldrich of Buffalo Books & Coffee in Buffalo, Minn. He recommended “Solutions and Other Problems,” written and illustrated by Allie Brosh. Aldrich refers to the book as a comic; publisher Simon & Schuster refers to the book as “comedic, autobiographical, and illustrated essays.” Regardless of the label, Brosh's illustrated stories describe her antics, growing up as a self-described "weirdo." Aldrich calls the book "laugh-out-loud funny," intermixed with sudden swerves to more serious topics. As in her first book, Brosh explores her depression and anxiety, while not losing sight of her humor.“It’s simultaneously hilarious and very revealing about the human psyche," says Aldrich.Brosh gained a following through her website, “Hyperbole and a Half,” and her New York Times best-selling book of the same title. "Solutions and Other Problems," arrived on the scene seven years later, in 2020, to similar acclaim.

Dana Welshans of Snowbound Books in Marquette, Mich., found herself surprised and delighted by the thriller “Picnic in the Ruins” by Todd Robert Petersen. She called the novel a "mystery for readers looking for something outside your usual police detective procedural," set in the otherworldly geography of the Monument lands of the Utah-Arizona border. At first, the book appears to be a small-town mystery. A famous collector of Native American artifacts is killed. A local sheriff sets out to investigate. But then, Welshans says, the story evolves into something that is part mystery, part thriller and part rumination of history and heritage — and what that means for the future of our public lands. Welshans calls the book a natural fit for fans of Craig Johnson, Paul Doiron or C.J. Box, adding that, in her opinion, the colorful cast of characters and exciting chase scenes would make for an excellent Coen brothers film.The Michigan bookstore has a Minnesota connection: They fulfill the Girls Empowerment Collections for St. Paul–based charity Books For Africa.

Kalima Desuze of Café con Libros in Brooklyn, N.Y., was a self-described nonfiction reader until 2020, when she fell in love with the imaginative world-building of young adult fantasy. She recommends a Jamaican-inspired YA fantasy novel that just hit the shelves on April 20: “Witches Steeped in Gold” by debut author Ciannon Smart. The story follows two teenage witches who are sworn enemies, both driven by vengeance. They need each other’s magic to defeat a common enemy, but they don’t trust each other, and Desuze says we readers aren't sure that we can trust them. Add to that a love story between one of the witches and the other’s best friend, and you have a page-turning plot. “It’s fun, it’s talking about real issues, it’s feminist, and I’m loving it,” says Desuze. Desuze, who is Afro Latina and has Jamaican family, says she’s excited to see this book steeped in Jamaican culture enter the world.

We couldn't let April pass by without some focus on poetry, and this week’s recommendation checks both the poetry and memoir boxes. Deborah Reed of Cloud and Leaf Bookstore in Manzanita, Ore., recommends “The Copenhagen Trilogy” by Tove Ditlevsen (1917–1976), which was released as a single volume in English in February.A Danish poet whose work was contemporary with Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, Ditlevsen lays bare her coming-of-age, intimate family life and deep love of language in this memoir series, subtitled “Childhood,” “Youth" and “Dependency.”Ditlevsen describes growing up in a bleak and impoverished household, longing be a poet and to be loved by her mother, two goals that appear impossible. Yet Ditlevsen publishes her first work at age 20, and she goes on to write more than 20 books of poetry, fiction, memoir and children’s stories. She achieves literary fame, though happiness is another goal entirely. Nor does she shy away from the hopes and troubles of her four marriages and her addiction to Demerol.“It’s difficult not to have a visceral response to her suffering,” says Reed, who admires the way Ditlevsen captures time and place down to the smallest detail. “When Ditlevsen writes from a child’s perspective about poverty and loneliness, it’s through this lens of hunger for language and expression. The writing itself crackles with this clarity and honesty and humor, and this kind of heart-pounding prose where you can see her talent as a poet shine.”Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman translated the work from Danish into prose that is “streamlined and deceptively simple,” says Reed.

The book Sandy Koropp of Prairie Path Books in Wheaton, Ill., is "crazy about right now" is part memoir, part home redecorating saga. Its descriptive title sets the stage; it's called “The Bee Cottage Story: How I Made a Muddle of Things and Decorated My Way Back to Happiness” by Frances Schultz.Schultz made her career as a style maven, says Koropp, and this 2015 memoir expands on a popular series Schultz wrote for "House Beautiful" magazine. Schultz had bought a house in East Hampton, N.Y., with her partner, full of ideas for their future. Instead, he left; she stayed and remade the house, reflecting on her new path in life as she went.The book is filled with pictures of the process. Schultz is "hilarious, very Nora Ephron-ish," says Koropp, "and she makes herself very vulnerable. She draws you in as if you're [sitting] with a cup of tea and a friend."

Zsamé Morgan travels across Minneapolis and St. Paul with her bookmobile, Babycake’s Book Stack. She was excited to spread the word about the picture book “Daisy” by Jessixa Bagley, which was published at the start of March. Daisy the Warthog gets bullied other animals who don’t think she lives up to the beauty of her name. Her head hangs low at others’ mean words, but looking down causes her to discover all sorts of forgotten and lost objects: treasures on the forest floor. Daisy bedecks her special fort with these treasures, and soon she finds that someone else has been adding to her collection. By being herself and exploring what she loves, Daisy makes a new, true friend.Morgan says she tries to stock her bookmobile with diverse characters and languages “so that kids can see themselves on the shelves,” but the animals in this book open up a conversation about bullying, friendship — and being yourself in a way that is organic and positive. Plus, she loves Bagley’s sweet watercolor illustrations.

This week’s recommendation comes from Montpelier, Vt., where Claire Benedict is co-owner of Bear Pond Books. Benedict says she devoured the novel “Milk Fed” by Melissa Broder — an appropriate description for a novel that is about appetites and what sustains us — also, lots of frozen yogurt. Rachel is a food-obsessed calorie-counter living in LA until she meets the clerk at the local frozen yogurt store, who tempts her with a bit of a topping on her daily fat-free frozen yogurt. Rachel falls in love with both the female clerk and with eating.What follows is funny, honest and erotic, Benedict says, as it explores all the factors in Rachel’s life: “food, love, sex, spirituality, mother’s approval—what is it that feeds our souls?”  

Maya Aurichio of Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Colo., recommends "Saint X" by Alexis Schaitkin. Aurichio read the book when it came out in 2020 and said its memorable characters have stuck with her. She called the novel a thoughtful twist on a “classic beautiful dead white girl thriller.” Claire is a child when her college-aged sister Alison goes missing on a family vacation on the tropical island of Saint X. When Alison is found dead, two men who work at the resort are blamed for her death.Eighteen years later in New York, Claire has a chance run-in with one of the accused. She befriends him to find out more information and learns a much wider story than she bargained for. “The book just blows open the story of ‘dead missing white girl’ and subverts that trope,” says Aurichio. It becomes “this really nuanced commentary on race and class and privilege.” 

Sally Wizik Wills of Beagle and Wolf Books and Bindery in Park Rapids, Minn., recommends a new book by a local author this week: Doug Mayfield’s “The Saint Patrick’s Day Hero.” The novel begins after a horrific mass shooting at a fictional college in Minnesota.The story follows professor William Kessler, who has been declared the hero of the day, though he’s never told anyone the exact details of the day. He discovers that the college’s active shooter alert did not launch in time and that the college is trying to cover it up, but revealing the truth could bring more pain to those around him. Wizik Wills wants readers to know that the shooting happens largely off-stage in the novel and the tragic events are tempered by humor. She enjoyed reading this page-turner novel, as Kessler discovers the healing powers of a close friendship, a new dog, meaningful work and fishing.